Arsenal: 3 positives of Emi Buendia transfer failure

Arsenal have lost the race to sign Emi Buendia. They only have themselves to blame. Aston Villa will conclude a deal for the Argentine ahead of Mikel Arteta’s side and he’ll be donning claret and blue next season, not red and white.

There is understandable rage from within the fanbase. Everyone has spent days pouring over numerous statistical charts, writing up articles on how Buendia would fit into the side and learning what his favourite breakfast snack is only for him to wind up joining a club that finished 11th in the Premier League table.

A bid had been lodged and rejected. £30m needed to find its way up to £40m in some manner. In the end Aston Villa will pay the full amount with a £33m upfront fee.

Fair play to Dean Smith’s side. They wanted their man and made the best offer to secure him, breaking their transfer record in the process and securing the services of a wonderfully talented forward. Meanwhile, Edu and co were reenacting their actions from the previous summer where they seemingly upped their Houssem Aouar bid by a penny each time until Lyon told them to do one.

Arsenal: 3 positives of Emi Buendia transfer failure as Aston Villa seal summer deal for Norwich forward

Mikel Arteta is probably a very angry man right now. He earmarked Buendia long ago, saw the potential he had within the squad and what he could do for others, only to miss out on his signature by a few million.

It’s not the best way to start the summer transfer window, and this is before it has even officially opened.

Some discussions will be held behind the scenes to determine how this one slipped their grasp, just as there will be across the fanbase with those how may have let themselves get a little too excited about the prospect of Buendia joining.

But is it all doom and gloom? Probably not. The inquest will happen but in such times there have to be positive aspects to draw from the incident.

Let’s look at three of them.

1. The Transfer Window is Still Very Much Alive for Arsenal

The transfer window is alive because it hasn’t even opened yet. Losing sleep over this transfer falling flat and throwing the toys out of the pram this early isn’t a healthy way to go about the rest of the summer.

June 9 is when the window officially starts and there are 12 weeks following that for things to change.

Historically things twist and turn drastically in all transfer windows, with deals pulled off in quick time and discussions being held under the cover of darkness to secure new targets. Arteta will likely be grinding his teeth at losing a player he wanted to secure well in advance of next season, but this is why lists are drawn up.

Anger and disappointment should be reserved for 23:00 BST on 31 August.